15 dressmaking tips for perfect sewing

Dressmaking tips and tricks that will make your homemade clothes just WOW

When you start a sewing project you have the best of intentions and expectations. It is mighty disappointing for it to turn out to be a dud that you have to discard. After all the hardwork you realise that you are not going to wear or use it anymore.

This kind of diappointment, if repeated, often will kill all your sewing enthiusiasm and creativity, in the bud. We donot want that – checkout these sewing practises – if followed strictly, they can make your sewing top notch.

1 Select the best fabric

Quality fabric choice is the number one pre-requisite of a great looking polished sewn garment.Checkout this post for the different types of fabric you can buy for your project.

Fabric is expensive; Sometimes the final product may end up way more expensive than what you would have found it on the stores. Donot buy more than what you need. Buy as per your sewing pattern or follow the general guidelines to see how much fabric you need for your sewing project.

4. Get a good enough sewing machine

Your Sewing machine doesnot have to be a fancy piece for you to take up sewing. An ordinary straight stitch or zig zag sewing machine will suffice. Checkout this post on what to look for when buying a beginner’s sewing machine. But it has to sturdy enough to withstand long hours of stitching that you will definitely do on it. definitely not one of those mini machines.

Also learn the inner outs of your sewing machine and its parts which is necessary if you are going to use it frequently. Learn to sew a straight line with your sewing machine by practising it and also get yourself familiarised with the sewing stitches in your machine.

5 Press as you sew

It is very easy to skip the pressing when sewing clothes. Actually you donot need an iron box, when you think like that. But donot think like that.

Pressing is such an important thing when sewing, the whole look of your final product may depend on this.So ignore pressing while sewing at your own peril.

There is only so much you can do with finger pressing. An iron can give that professional ‘not- homemade’ look to your home made clothes. Always sew the seams open. You can bulk finish seams and then bulk press. Chekout this post on how to press correctly.

The polished look pressing gives has to be experienced. I cannot emphasise enough the need of pressing. Checkout the heat settings for the appropriate fabrics in your iron box.

6 Always interface where necessary

Interfacing is a fabric material which is used to give firmness, strength, stability and weight to seams and fabric surfaces.The fabric would just flop around if not for the interfacing- I cannot imagine a collar or cuff without interfacing.

You can use fusible interfacing on just about any fabric. Just place the glue side of this interfacing on the wrong side of your fabric and then use a hot iron to press in place.

I usually interface a big piece and then cut the necessary pattern piece from the fused fabric. Or else cut different pieces from main fabric and interfacing and then fuse them together. Always use interfacing on facings and seams with stresses like butonholes, zippers, behind pockets

Donot buy as small pieces ( anyways the shop I shop at never sell less than 1 meter). You will find many uses for it in your sewing journey.

8 Learn to make clothes from sewing patterns

Learn to sew – Checkout this post with some sewing tips and techniques. These tutorials will teach you the basics of stitching and then you will learn as you sew more

9 Get some nice sewing supplies and tools

You most likely already have the most essential sewing tools like sewing machine, tape measure, scissors, pins, chalk and pattern paper. Checkout the other sewing tools and supplies you may need to further your sewing expertise and make your job easier.

10 Plan the sequence of stitching in advance

I usually write down the sequence I will follow in making a garment – especially if it is the first time that I am making it. I need it for my disorganised mind. You can stitch the sections as per the sequence detailed below or as per your pattern istructions.

11 Always clip and trim seam allowances wherever necessary

For seams to work nicely this is a necessity, espcailly if you have curved seams. Your pattern pieces have curves and you stitch straight lines . To conform to the curves the seam allowances should be trimmed to the minimum and clipped at intervals

12. Buy the best quality sewing notions and trims

Sewing notions and trims you use on your clothes shout the quality of the final product. Even a well tailored clothing in a good fabric can be ruined with a cheap looking zipper or button. So donot compromise on this.

13 Finish the fabric edges.

You may think that it is simple enough to leave the inside fabric edges as is. But after a few tumbling in the washing machine the fabric edges will definitely fray and create a mess inside your garment. It looks professional and polished if you have finished fabric edges inside your garment too.Checkout the 15 different ways to finish the fabric edges

15 Check for loose thread trails and trim away

Nothing is nore unsightly than loose threads on a garment you are wearing. When you back stitch at the start of a seam and when ending, it you will be leaving lot of thread tails – just clip all of them at the end of your session painstakingly. Have you ever seen thread tails on shop brought clothes

16 Follow the Fitting standards in clothing

There are some standards of clothing that you should ensure that your finished sewn product should adhere to. Ensure that they are followed so that you make something that you are proud of

You should ensure that the garment you have sewn meets the following criteria

Buttons fasten easily, neatly and securely.

There are no loose seam stitching or hanging threads

Buttons and buttonholes are all placed at an equal distance from the edge

Stitches are all even and smooth

Collars are neatly finished, equal on both sides, undercollar doesnot roll to the front collar. The corners are neatly turned out.

Darts are lying smooth without any projections. Dart on either side of the bodice are placed equally and look the same.

Facing at the neckline is neatly turned inside the garment without any bulges. The fabric edges are finished

Prints and patterns of the cloth you have chosen look neatly joined.

Hem stitching is looking smooth without any projections or bulges and at an even distance from the hem edge

The pant hem is ending 2 cms from the ground when you are wearing shoes. Long sleeve hems are touching the top of your hands.

Dressmaking is rewarding. But shoddy work is not encouraging. Make clothes you can wear with pride by following these tips.